January 24, 2022
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. Job 23:12
Staying “on board” with the teachings of the Bible is the only way to avoid being taken in by Satan’s deceptions. The Lord Jesus, before His earthly ministry ended, promised us the Holy Spirit to aid our journey in this world where, without exception, every precept of God is attacked and has an attempted counterfeit replacement.
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” John 16:12-13
Can God’s Word truly prepare me for things to come? What must I do to be certain the Holy Spirit is guiding my Bible study?
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Luke 11:9-10
Too often we wait for a crisis before beginning to truly seek the Lord. C.S.Lewis observed this tendency: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” We tend to be spiritually deaf in the area of preparation for hardship and tribulation. Of course, we all desire the blessings from the hand of the Lord, but sadly we tend to have greater esteem for those relatively temporal blessings from His hand than for the eternal blessing of a close and unbroken fellowship with God Himself.
When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.” Psalm 27:8
The man or woman of God who wholeheartedly seeks after His face is not so likely to be severely shaken in the face of tragedy, disaster, or just the uncertainties of life in a fallen world. It is this kind of stability that the rest of the world needs to see as an example. The LORD had said to Abram:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Genesis 15:1